YOUR WORLD - Book 02 of The Neo Trilogy

[GLKnight]

As the elevator doors opened to the Medical Ward on Level Three, all Desmond could feel was the deepest regret of his life simmering in his stomach like lava inside an active caldera. As he stepped out into the lobby, he could feel every eye locking onto him. He saw every look on their faces - the disgust, the fear, the anger, the betrayal. Though he didn't need it to be said, he knew that their thoughts conveyed one thing and one thing alone as he approached the nurses at the front desk.

Very few, if anyone within the base, considered him human any longer. A pain that ached with familiarity from the past year.

"I'm sorry to bother you," Desmond asked quietly, nervously pushing his sunglasses up so the women at work could not see his eyes. "But I was wondering if it's possible for Ms. Daya Martinez to receive visitors?"

The nurses exchanged reserved looks between each other, apprehensive about the question. And with a small, annoyed sigh, one rolled her eyes.

"We were told to give you an update about her condition," she began, staring deep with a barely restrained disgust. "As of last night, Ms. Martinez was placed into a medically induced coma due to over eighty percent of her body suffering fourth degree burns and severe fractures along her spinal column and skull. The doctors believe that if she survives, she might never walk again due to what happened and may need to be transferred to another facility for further care. As per Director Apollo's orders, you are hereby restricted from seeing her for the time being."

The horror that befall Desmond was unimaginable, locking him into silence. If anyone was able to notice, his pale skin almost turned ghostly white. He wanted to say something, ask further questions. But the eyes of the nurses cut too deeply into his soul. He immediately accepted that they were right in restricting him. He had hurt her. He had hurt her grievously. His mom's voice echoed in his head, reminding him this is what happened when you betrayed her. That he was to blame for everything going wrong in his life. He wanted to cry, to fall to the floor and sink through it. To phase through dirt and stone until he reached the core of the Earth where he couldn't hurt anyone else again. But he had to keep a brave face going. He had to wait until he was out of sight.

"Thank you," he said, grimly. "And I'm sorry."

He turned and solemnly walked back to the elevator, feeling the nurses' eyes on him once more. He didn't need to see their faces to know their expressions. It was all too obvious what they were. So, once he was in the lift, he pressed the button for Level Five. As soon as the doors opened again, he walked out into the empty, dilapidated hallway. The smell of char was overwhelming, assailing him as he moved in a catatonic state.

He could hear the buzzing in the back of his mind, his ears ringing in synchronicity. The voices were gone, but their presence still lingered. The Zhurat, "the Mothers" as Desi described them two days earlier. Indescribable beings of unimaginable power from the Axzhurat, or The House Of The Mothers. He could feel their influence in every atom, in every cell. It was like his entire corpus had been dissociated from this plane of reality, forced to be torn apart and stitched back together into an approximation of what they needed, guided by his mother's plans to humiliate and control him. And every time others controlled him, pain and destruction and fear was left in his wake.

"Can I even call myself Human anymore?" he asked himself as he stopped in front of the hollowed out and blackened shell that was his cell.

For a few moments, Desmond considered his options. Who he could trust and who he would hurt in the process. All the things that would be done to him. All the things that wanted to contain him, use him, potentially destroy him.

In the end, he realized his options were so few. That every choice led to someone's pain. So he chose the one that ended in the least potential harm.

He needed to leave. To flee to somewhere where no one would ever be able to find him. If he was meant to be a pawn on all sides of the equation, then there was only one option left for him.

He had to leave the game entirely.

He had to do the unspeakable. And that meant finding his way out of Containment Bunker Zero first.

[GLKnight]

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[erocha75]

OMG, poor Daya... It seems she might not make it.. I really liked her... And Desmond's conclusion to leave/escape seems the only logical one at this point, to be honest...

PS Just spitballing here, but wouldn't it be great if Desmond, in order to save Daya from her (very likely) demise, channeled some of his energy into her and turned her into one very big bad NEO???

[GLKnight]

Deep in the heart of the nerve center of CB Zero, Merlin had begun her day in the security room. Barely getting her coffee before being inundated with updates and intel about the war happening above ground. But the thing that worried her most was info regarding some irregularities not far from the perimeter of the outer walls of the underground facility. Now, nearly four hours later, the irregularities had continued unabated while the best and brightest on hand could not make heads nor tails about what they were seeing.

And here she was, dealing with a minor headache from a lack of good coffee, a grumbling stomach and a slight overdose of sleeping meds before she went to bed. And dealing with a massive clusterfuck that was the incident the night prior - peering beyond the veil into a world that shouldn't rightfully exist, as well as now knowing that what they faced went beyond anything mere mortals were meant to grapple with.

"Seismographs have recorded another tremor," one of the scientists on hand called out. "Still registering a 1.3."

"Radiographs detect no changes," another called out soon after.

That part made no sense to Merlin, given their proximity to the old nuclear testing sites.

"Any updates from the quarantined sections on Level Three?" she asked, rubbing her eye beneath her sunglasses in frustration.

"Readings are still at zero, ma'am. It's as if whatever energy was unleashed up there was sucked back through that portal you said you saw behind Guest One."

"Damn it," she muttered, realizing that she had yet to check in on Desmond today. She knew the boy was spiraling. It was practically an impossibility to think otherwise. Chronic trauma, then mutated into something nobody could explain. Then being taken over by some god-like alien fucks who were guiding the Neos, leading to a massive amount of damage and the only person he was able to make a connection with in critical condition? A part of her felt like she needed to protect the boy from everything. But as her eyes drifted to the monitors all across the room, with dozens of news feeds covering the mayhem and societal destruction the NAE was causing across the globe, she felt a shudder of remorse running through her. She couldn't help but ask herself why, out of all the lives in the entire world, she was putting her neck out there for him? He was a rube at best, and in some way complicit through association with his mother, who had just launched a successful campaign to capture Dubai.

But there was still this part of him, whether it was a streak of pity or some misguided feelings towards her own daughter, that made her feel like she had to do something for him. Even though his sister was here, it was like he was well and truly alone.

At the thought of his loneliness, she glanced over to a security monitor. Seeing Desmond at the ruins of Level Five. Despondency etched in every shadow of his face, his stone eyes glinting brightly in the camera's feed. And within moments, she recognized that look. Watching him turn away and begin walking back down the hallway, the realization of what he was thinking struck her like a bolt of lightning.

"Keep monitoring for changes," she warned her crew as she hurriedly moved out of the center on Level Nine. "Report any changes immediately."

As she prepared to run, she felt a hand on her arm. Causing her to lurch and look at who dared hold her back with a questioning look.

"Ma'am," her assistant, Deputy Director Milton whined with a cutting look. "Where are you going? We've got too much work to do!"

"First off," Merlin seethed, pulling her arm away as she took off her sunglasses. A move that everyone knew meant that she was choosing to be serious at this moment. "You know I have complete freedom within these walls. And second-"

Merlin jabbed her finger with a flourish, making sure the Deputy Director was looking at the security monitor as Guest One stepped onto the elevator.

"...You clearly do not know when there's a fucking security risk about to go down. Now step aside, Allie."

Allie was taken aback, stepping away cautiously as Merlin quickly began running towards the nearby elevator. In her four years working at Containment Bunker Zero, she had never seen Merlin so much as yell at anyone before now. And yet, here she was. Chewing her up and spitting her out in the span of three seconds with an efficiency hitherto unseen from the most laidback of the two directors in charge of the facility run by the Department Of Containment. If she wasn't so scared of her boss right now, she would easily be impressed with her finally showing some bit of authority to one of her underlings.

"Soon enough," Allie reminded herself. "You'll be in charge soon enough..."

[erocha75]

Mmhhh, interesting that this Allie character becomes a player now... Great stuff, as always!!

[GLKnight]

As the elevators to Sub-Level One opened for him, Desmond sighed in relief as he saw every soldier, technician and staff member working on every vehicle within the bay. Humvees being retrofitted with experimental tech for testing. Tanks having their plating replaced with bizarre looking metallurgical combinations. Engines being tuned with new parts for any and all aircraft. The number of people that were fully focused on one facet - the survival of their entire way of life - in streams of activity that reminded him of panicking ants running all over a colony in full construction. It was like a full display of the odd balance in dissimilarities between the NAE and everyday operations. Their mutual readiness. Their mutual hunger to control what was before them. Their mutual willingness to fight to the last.

In this moment, Desmond realized the desperation that divided the two sides. As well as his place in this battle. But all he could feel was the willingness both sides displayed when it came to him. All he was to both Neos and Humans was as a pawn. He was a tool. An experiment gone wrong for one side and gone right for another. A means to an end. He couldn't let them use him. He had to leave Containment Bunker One and never return. And he had to make sure that the NAE, and his mother most importantly, could never get him in their six fingered grip again.

He didn't know how he'd do it - maybe somewhere high up or getting his hands on something to make it quick - but he knew it had to be a way that was hard to prevent and near impossible to heal.

He could only see one way out of this nightmare. All he had to do was not be a coward and do the deed. Walk through the wall of people, take himself above ground and leave to his final destination. Take himself out of the equation entirely. Remove himself from the board entirely.

So why was he suddenly scared?

He could feel himself shaking, his breath shuddering in his chest. Every thought of death came with a sense of liberty. No more pain, no more suffering. No more usage by those around him. No more abuse and hurt. But every thought also brought about thoughts of his sister being caught in the aftermath. The only person who cared for him. Was he really willing to hurt her so deeply by ending everything? To vanish and leave her to not know what became of him? He really didn't want to hurt her like that, but there were things he couldn't unsee. Her possessiveness, for starters. And the way she manhandled him at times, treating him more like a somewhat neglected pet than her own flesh and blood. And the moments of superiority she embroiled herself in, almost always at his expense. It was almost like he was living with two separate people in one physical form. And no matter how much he loved her, it was like he was living with another version of his mother.

No, he had to go. For his sake. For Desiree's sake. For the sake of Humanity. He had to go and let nature take him for the good of all.

So, with a tremoring sigh, he stepped out of the elevator to weave through the throng of people working to save the world. Only to hear a voice, both authoritative and angry ring out loudly from the nearby express elevator.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, GUEST ONE?!"

He turned his head, looking at Agent Merlin storming towards him with a purposeful stride. Every inch of her body tense with rage as she swiftly approached him.

"I can't stay here, Agent Merlin! It's best you let me-"

The sound was crisp and loud, causing the staff of CB Zero, Sub-Level One to come to a slow halt as they watched Merlin slap Desmond Nowell's face with such impact that he was thrown to the floor. His cheek bright red and swelling while he lay on the cold floor in shock for a second before the Director of the facility wrapped her arms around him. Comforting him as she chewed him out for what he was about to do.

"Get it through your fucking skull right now," she chastised, holding him tight in her arms. "What you were about to do is not only stupid, but a fucking insult to all of us trying to keep you alive! You get me?"

In that moment, the truth of what he was about to do ran through him like a sliver of light. The selfishness disguised as bravery, the deep seated despair that was driving his actions. He could practically hear his mother's cackle in the back of his mind, calling him weak for trying to take the easy way out, yet also for thinking he could escape.

"I can't stay," he admitted, breaking down in her embrace with a powerful sob. "I'm a monster! I'm going to get people hurt! I just want it all to end! Please! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

For the first time since his arrival, the rumors that had spread through every sub-level were undercut in a brutal display of the pain Guest One had been truly holding on to. For once, he wasn't just a vessel of great power. Instead, he was a fragile victim of everything he had been forced through. His shimmering stone eyes no longer a symbol of the otherworldly force they were facing, but of the humanity he had been struggling to retain. Finally allowed to be shown as he wailed his apologies to all of Humankind.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Deep on Sub-Level Seven, Desiree had gone back to try and wrap her mind around everything. The Zhurat appearing on this plane of existence. The damage Desmond had inflicted. The harm done to Daya. The fact that she was beginning to feel more and more like a caged animal with the denial of access to the Directors. And most importantly, this thrumming she could intermittently feel, preceded by what sounded like the quiet beating of her heart. Her eyes drifted to some engineers working on hammering out some of the plating they were devising for the vehicles on Sub-Level One. Her frustration building as the rhythmic bounding ate away at her nerves.

"Would you mind if I helped you out?" she offered, pointing towards the thick sheet of metal.

"Uh, sure." One of the men awkwardly replied, stopping the machine to give her access. Allowing her to slip the metal plate from the vice grips holding it in place. Turning it this way and that, objectively going over every inch of the experimental armor. Then, with a silent, machine like efficiency, plunged her bare fist through the center of the metal plate. Destroying it instantly without any resistance, as if it was like a sheet of paper.

"There were too many impurities allowed to get through smelting," she calmly stated, putting the plate on a nearby table. "Maybe increase the amount of Tungsten alloy, to allow both greater impact resistance and thermal manipulation?"

All she got was a muted "yeah, okay" as the team took the plate away for full evaluation for failure. Leaving her to sigh in relief at one of the noises bothering her disappearing. But with its absence, the sound of the heartbeat followed by thrumming was much clearer. Letting her focus on where the sound was coming from. As she closed her eyes, she brought her full attention to the thrum. Letting each sound fade away, one by one, as if entering a vacuum. Her senses fully attuning beyond the chaos of the Scientists and Engineers hard at work. But the clearer the thrumming got, the more... familiar it seemed to be. Like a steady pulse, evenly paced.

Like a pattern of some kind...

Her eyes flew open, the white lights within them flashing brightly in shock. She knew what that sound was.

"Where's Apollo?" she demanded from Dr. Mowzell, startling him from his calculations.

"He's currently on Three," he said, confused. "Why do you-?"

Desi wasted no time, rushing in the direction of the nearest way to communicate with Agent Apollo.

"I need to speak to him! NOW!"

[GLKnight]

After a few minutes of awkwardness, the security detail on One finally went into action. Shooing away all the workers away from the scene and back to work, thus allowing Desmond to finally come back to center and Agent Merlin to continue comforting him as she got him back to his feet.

"Don't you ever do anything so fucking stupid again, you get me?" she seethed in ways only a mother could, rubbing his shoulders and back.

"I- I'm sorry" was all he could mumble, emotionally drained from the outpour of all he had been holding in.

"Apology accepted," she told him, sighing deeply as she turned him towards the elevators. "Now let's get you some soup and you can tell me-"

Alarm lights began to stir as the telltale blare of arrival horns rang through the Mechanics Bay. Confusion running through all hands as the rumble of vehicles making their way down the entryway. Soldiers moving personnel to prevent any accidents as several trucks arrived quickly and safely, parking where they could as armed guards hopped out and lined up. Agent Merlin was perplexed, to say the least. There were no scheduled arrivals for today or the rest of the month. No plans for adding troops to the facility. But here they were, all the same. In full gear, at ease and ready for command. So, handing Desmond off to a nearby guard, she marched forward. Switching back into Authority mode as she fixed her sunglasses.

"What's the meaning of this?" she asked, eying one of the soldier, a young woman in her twenties with long dark hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, as she presented a small parcel of papers with a gloved hand.

"Orders from Raleigh," she croaked, her raspy voice surprisingly clear and strong. "He wants to increase the amount of eyes on Guests One and Two. If you look through, you'll find everything in order, ma'am."

Flipping through, Merlin couldn't help but find everything was in perfect order. Every T crossed, every I dotted.

"That's all well and good," she said, eying the new soldiers with more than an ounce of paranoia. "But why am I just learning about this now, Private-?"

"McGillicuddy, ma'am." The soldier finished, brazenly.

Going back to the paperwork, something inside of Agent Merlin was screaming at her that something was off. Every nerve on high alert, as if something was about to happen.
_____________________________________________________________________

Desiree, in the meantime, was exiting the elevator for the fifth time in the last few minutes. She was told Apollo was on Three, then it was Two. Then she was led to the barracks on Four. Then down to Six where the Supplies were.

And now, once again, she was on her way down to Nine. Back to the nerve center of CB Zero.

As soon as the doors opened, the two guards she had talked to earlier smiled and saluted once more.

"Welcome back," the right guard offered. "What can we do for-?"

"Is Agent Apollo here?" Desiree asked, storming towards the bustling Intel room.

"He is," the left guard answered. "Is there something you need him to-?"

Desiree did not hesitate, marching quickly past the two men and into the room.

"I'm done wasting time! I need to speak to him now!"

"You do not have the right to anything, Guest Two!"

A hand slapped across her chest, pushing against the agitated Neo. Stopping in her tracks, Desiree's eyes narrowed as she glared at the Deputy Director.

"I'm tired of the fucking games. Let me speak to Apollo. Now."

Allie placed herself directly in Desi's path, a cocky smile on her face as she stared her down, in kind.

"And what are you gonna do about it, Blinker?

The air was tense as both Human and Neo were caught in a standoff. One wielding her authority with impunity, the other powerful enough to tear the human in two. Unstoppable force meeting immovable object, unwilling to change the path they were on.

"That's enough, Allie!"

The voice of greater authority caused Deputy Director Milton's confidence to crumble. Turning to sheepishly greet her superior as he marched his way over.

"Sorry, Director Apollo. My apologies. It's just that Guest Two-"

"Save the excuses," he growled, putting himself in front of both personnel and guest with a powerful stance. "Now, I hear you've been looking for me, Ms. Nowell?"

"Sir, have you been picking up any seismic activity?" she asked, pointing back into the room. "Say, a stead pattern? Maybe around a low strength - a little over 1, perhaps?"

A measured surprise crossed Apollo's face. Partly due to the accuracy of her questioning and partly due to her bluntness.

"We have," he carefully answered, not sure where this was going. "Why-?"

Desiree wasted no time, grabbing his arm to drag him back into the Intel room.

"Sir, it's not just random."

All within Nine came to a complete stop as they witnessed the Neo on base dragging their director with her. Hurriedly moving between stations until she found the Seismograph they were using, just in time to see the needle tremor once more.

"You see," she crowed, pulling up the day's recordings. "One point three, every five minutes."

"We are near another military base," Allie interjected. "These readings could be from testing or training."

But Apollo didn't buy that, intrigued by where Guest Two was going with her statements.

"You don't think it's that, do you, Ms. Nowell?"

The look on Desiree's face was all that Agent Apollo needed to know.

"Order an immediate evacuation. We need to clear out CB Zero now!"

[Saxony Red Devil]

Back with a bang! 👀

[GLKnight]

"Evacuation?" Allie asked incredulously. "Several thousands of soldiers and staff? What kind of game are you playing, blinker?"

"Don't call her that," Apollo growled, staring down both his and Merlin's assistant with an incensed glare. "But do explain, Ms. Nowell."

Desiree closed her eyes in frustration, holding up the seismic readings from the past few hours in one hand as she took a deep breath.

"You are not listening to me. These readings are way too organized to be coincidence. And that's because-"

Before the thought could even be finished, the entirety of Level Nine went dark. Plunging all the humans into abyssal panic and terror.
____________________________________________________

Merlin kept going over the papers given to her again and again. Trying her best to speed read the sheer number of names, figures and orders for what they were supposed to do. And every time, she kept going back to one thing that stuck out like a sore thumb - the fact that Desmond Nowell's name was referred to explicitly over the course of twenty-three pages.

Her eyes narrowed, piecing the details together with furrowed brows and intense gaze. Because inside her own mind, every warning bell was going off with the intensity of a thousand fires. Something wasn't right and she wasn't sure what, exactly. Raising her hand to allow herself a moment, she calmly walked over towards the officer in charge of Security for Level One, standing next to Desmond. Himself eying the new arrivals with suspicion as he rubbed his forehead.

"I want you to arrange for the new staff to be given quarters and registered into the system, alright?"

As the two talked, Desmond couldn't help but notice that Merlin's hands were moving quickly. Not sporadically, like they were part of her natural mannerisms. But subdued, concise. He'd dare say precise. Like they were moving in patterns. His gaze moved from her hands to the officer, who himself was watching her hand movements. Subtly nodding his head as he repeatedly muttered "Yes, ma'am" over and over again.

He wondered why she was doing that, perplexed why she had her back turned to the new arrivals instead of acting openly like she normally would. Things weren't adding up for him. And this damn headache just wouldn't go away.
_____________________________________________________


"Get generators online!"

"Communications are down, sir!"

"Life support active, but all other operations have been halted!"

A flurry of professionalism in the darkness was all the staff in the nerve center of CB Zero could do to prevent their own panic from overtaking them. A cacophony of curses and expletives flying fast and loose around the only light source available - the dim glow of Desiree's glowing white eyes, eerily hovering in the darkness.

"What in the Hell's going on?" Allie screamed, demanding answers from the only Neo in the room.

"It's not coincidence, is it?"

"No," Desiree coldly replied, grabbing Apollo's hand once more to drag him to the nearest set of stairs. "It's exactly as bad as you think."

Allie followed behind the two, trying her best to not run into anyone or anything in the darkness as Desi lit the way.

"Where are you going?"

Desi grabbed the handle to the door, pulling it open with a loud crack. Breaking the frame in her need for action as concrete debris crumbled to the floor with a clatter.

"Level Seven. They're almost here."
____________________________________________________

"Mr. Nowell, are you alright?"

Desmond could only nod at Merlin's question, trying his best to not be overwhelmed.

"I'll be fine. It's just a headache. I-"

A flash of light filled his vision, sending Desmond into a sense of vertigo as two security officers grabbed onto him to help with stabilization.

"Desmond! What's wrong?"

Desmond could only give grunts of discomfort and confusion as his view kept changing wildly. Hyper detailed and saturated became stark and monochrome, then back to normal. He could feel himself drooling, count the divots in the leather boots of the soldiers by his side. He could practically feel the flow of energy throughout Level One. Feel the flow of every breath, smell what they had eaten and drank that very day, maybe even a few days prior. It was like his brain was overstimulated and processing everything in super complex equations. Every heartbeat, every twitching muscle. Even the static buzz of something nearby.

It was at this moment that he realized something. He knew that specific static sound. He knew that tone and frequency intimately.

As he watched Merlin approaching the new retinue of soldiers, he realized their specifics.

All of the soldiers were women. Despite their best efforts to make themselves as unflattering as possible, they were unable to hide that fact from the most diligent of eyes.

All of them were more built than even the most ardent of exercise junkies he had seen on base.

And despite their very best efforts, he knew where they were looking. Each of their gazes subtly held in ways that only attention to the muscles around their eyes could tell their true target.

All of their eyes were on him.
______________________________________________________

Barreling through the double doors to the lab on Level Seven, the Neo with White Eyes scanned the room as the facility Director came stumbling behind her with haggard breath.

"I need a thermal scanner placed on the Western wall!"

Everyone came to a standstill, brought to a halt by the urgency in her words.

"I need a thermal scanner on the Western wall!" she screamed, terror in her voice as she ran across the lab. "Now!"

Scientists scrambled to clear the way as a tall device, a series of balls and screens attached to a control panel that was used to determine the thermal survivability of every metallurgic experiment to provide complete study of the tensile retentiveness of weaponry and tech, came through the crowd by the strength of four engineers. Quickly placing it against the wall where Desiree pointed and moving aside to allow her access to it. With a couple quick motions, the screen came to life as a burst of blue light flickered and then died. Its proximity dangerously close to the concrete wall. Twisting the frequency dial, several shapes had quickly taken form in its passing. Each pressing close to the wall before running back to safety.

Director Apollo's eyes went wide as the unthinkable finally came to him.

"How-?"

Desiree, however, knew it was already too late. Her scream of "Incoming!" echoing through the lab and diving for cover mere seconds before an explosion of blue flame carved through the wall.
________________________________________________________

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to contact General Raleigh about this order." Merlin told Private McGillicuddy. "I'll need you to wait here while we-"

A flare of pain shot through Desmond, forcing him to close his eyes.

His breath hitched in his chest as his stomach dropped. For upon shutting out the world, he could see the color filled forms of several soldiers standing near the dull white light of Agent Merlin. All twenty of the newly arrived personnel standing in their full, true light for him to see.

His eyes shot open, wide and full of horror as he pointed at the soldiers near the entrance to Sub-level One. His heart hammering in his chest as his worst fear had come to be, forcing him to cry out in terror.

"NEOS!!!"

[GLKnight]

The numbers that flowed into Level Seven as the facility went into red alert was nothing short of terrifying. Neos marching into the labs like gigantic muscular ants swarming into an opened jar of sugar. The humans on site were thrown into panic as they rushed to repel the invading force amidst the klaxon of alarms and the sudden wash of warning lights screamed to life. Gunshots echoing off of the walls as scientists scattered to the nearest experimental station for a proper field test of their pet projects. Engineers scrambling into half built mech suits while particle physicists rushed to their infantile stage energy weapons. Bullets striking resonant fields surrounding the NAE soldiers with absolutely no impact or penetration as they stormed the facility, firing tactically yet indiscriminately in kind.

Their goal was terror. Their aim was discord. Their weapon was overwhelming presence. But this was a fight the things they considered inferior was not willing to give an inch on. The world was in peril. And Containment Bunker Zero, ground zero for the first line of Humanity's hope, was not willing to go down without a fight.

And Desiree was right there with them. Roaring in defiance as she charged around the incoming women, springing from table to table in athletic display as she barked out commands.

"Their shields are set to kinetic neutrality!" she screamed, pointing at the physicists who had scrambled towards the far wall opposite the entry point the Neos had made while acting as a decoy. "Set frequencies to Sign Two Two Nine Eight, wide!"

"Two Two Nine Eight?" One scientist screamed back, barely avoiding getting struck by a paralyzer pulse as it flew over his head.

"I think she's telling us how to disable their shields!" Agent Apollo shouted, firing at the invading force to provide cover. "So maybe listen to her! Doctor Mowzell!"

The German Doctor's curt "On it!" cut through the buzz of energy discharges and staccato beats of semiautomatic gunfire as he quickly began to dial in the specific wave form his unwitting ally barked out. His focus as clear as the matrix of the laser he had been developing with the White eyed Neo he had slowly become friends with over the past couple of months. The computer running through several thousand calculations while unshielded soldiers and fellow scientists fell screaming in large numbers to the overwhelming onslaught of the combat press the NAE forces had launched at them.

_____________________________________

On Level One, things had gone about the same. Upon being revealed for who they truly were, the Neo Soldiers initiated the skirmish. Agent Merlin, in her great shame, being taken by surprise as the woman she had attempted to communicate with backhanded her with ease, sending her skidding across the floor.

"Ladies! Take back what's ours!"

Lifting their weapons, the facade of what they truly were seemed to glitch and fade. Leaving them to brandish a litany of chrome Synapser Rifles glinting under the harsh halogen lights before twisting open with a bluish-white light and opening fire on any and every obvious target within the loading dock and mechanical bay.

Screams echoed off the walls, from people being gunned down into fiery fits of pain and those non-combatants seeking to escape as security personnel took to sudden war within their safe haven. Bullets hitting invisible walls that shimmered in several neon shades that emulated the NAE flag before harmlessly falling to the floor, causing fits of smug superiority among the twenty or more Neo soldiers as they brought glorious terror to their human victims.

But Agent Merlin knew she had to take charge. Blood flowing freely from her lip, she could practically feel her jaw starting to swell, tight and aching in ways that she could tell meant it was at least fractured as she scrambled behind nearby supply boxes.

"Get Nowell to safety!" she screamed through grit teeth, throwing open what was before her in a mad dash for a weapon. Grabbing whatever was inside and ducking for cover.

"You heard Camelot!" One of the security personnel barked, standing in front of Desmond as the rest pushed him into the elevator.

"What about Merlin?" Desmond screamed, valiantly trying to push through in a vain attempt to protect one of the few people he came to care for in Containment Bunker Zero.

"Orders from Camelot," another guard shouted, pulling him along. "You are our priority, Guest One. Now, let's go!"

As one soldier held him tight, a second kept her gun aimed out the door while a third slid a keycard into the console, causing the entire panel to flip over. Revealing a large scanner on the other side right as enemy fire shifted their way. Guards howling in agony as they fell while Synaptic overload bursts struck the walls around them all and the quickly closing doors.

The sound of an artificial voice chirped through the tense elevator as the sensation of diagonal movement tremored up Desmond's legs.

"Rabbit Initiative activated."

"What the Hell's the Rabbit Initiative?" he asked, confused. The female guard reloaded her pistol and gave him a collected look. Trying her best to remain calm.

"What are rabbits known for, Guest One?"

"Breeding?"

She began handing extra clips to her fellow soldiers, ensuring they could at least fight back. The diagonal descent slowly coming to a stop as the elevator chimed on Level Four - one of the personnel sectors of the facility.

"And getting the fuck out of dodge. That's the Rabbit Initiative. It's the full Evac call sign for the whole facility."

[GLKnight]

So, it's been about forever since I've been on here or done anything Muscle Girl related. So where have I been?

Simply put, working on shit.

Original superhero setting - AXIOM - covering a wide assortment of comic tropes and genres at play within and around the superhero genre. Which has been hard to work on, given I'm surviving on $100 a month now (and looking at losing even that soon).

Working on some novels - a Weird Fantasy concept, expanding Blockbuster into a full and proper Sci Fi setting, some Cosmic Horror stuff.

Also developing some TTRPG settings by myself - most recently a setting where World War I has gone on 100 years longer, an eldritch nightmare looms on the shores of every nation and the military having turned to enlisting LITERAL WITCHES in all facets of the war effort to try and end the battle.

And most recently? I decided to try and restart my NSFW content side. With plans to write new material, potentially write some comics. And most importantly - reboot some of my more well known stories.

So, in short, I'm rebooting The Neo Saga. Streamline it a bit more. Expanded and re-contextualize what I've already done. See how I've improved. And I'm gonna look into sites where people who wanna see that sort of content can support me after Patreon randomly locked down my account without warning and rebranded it 18+ for no reason, taking actual years to get it back. So with Patreon becoming more of a problem for adult content creators, I'm stuck at square one again.

Anyway, all that said, I'm gonna start making more content again. Gonna take a bit, though. So keep an eye on here for updates.